Some of you know my story. I love to bake and cook, especially at the holidays. And I can make a good pie crust, from a friend's recipe that I have sworn by for years. But when I read about Cook's Illustrated's vodka pie crust recipe, I had to try. It was amazing.

It was so easy to roll out, that my kids rolled out our pecan pie crust on Thanksgiving Day. But the best part was it's the tastiest, flakiest crust I've ever eaten.

Here's the secret, according to Cook's Illustration: The reason pie crust aren't flaky is they get overworked. They get overworked because we have trouble rolling them out, and the overworking helps the water in the crust create gluten from the flour. Gluten makes for great chewy bread, but isn't good in pie crust.

Enter vodka. It doesn't create the chemical reaction to make gluten. So you add more liquid and make the crust easy to roll out without running the risk of making the crust tough.